Guest lecturer reports - Essay Example

Thus engineers are part of the problem solving process and apply an analytical approach in providing solutions. The knowledge of social construction of technology aids in the comprehension of societal problems in relation to the existing economic needs of the people. Therefore engineers are able to device appropriate solutions technically to suit the changing economic trends. Engineers are social scientific practitioners who mainly link scientific discoveries and the commercial applications to meet the day today societal and consumer needs (Anastasia & Reshma, 2009).

This is incredibly plausible through the ideas this clever bunch of professionals put forward to act as economic solutions to technical problems in relation to the application of scientific principles. Sociology of technology is a theory that argues on the basis of human action shaping technology. One of the distinctive characteristics of technology is that it’s socially shaped i.e. a new technology available at one time may be developed and implemented following consumer interests. Thus a working technology is rendered unsuccessful when it does not meet the prevailing standards of consumer interests (Bijker, Wiebe, Thomas, Hughes, Trevor, & Pinch, 1987).

Engineering socio-technical system defines societal roles in determining what design should be used by engineers to construct a device that is generally accepted, at certain limits. It is this design that influences the implementation of a particular technology at a particular time. As a theory and a methodology, SCOT analyses the causes of success and failure to a particular technology through formalizing appropriate scientific procedures and principles. This argument is evident in the evolution of bicycle, innovating different designs.

The first invention of the bicycle was the velocipede, which was difficult to mount, had a poor braking system and the front wheel tended to clean itself on the cyclist's trousers while negotiating bents. This paved way for penny-farthing part of the developmental process to find an efficient form of personal transport. Similarly, it took a cyclist some practice to learn how to get into and off the high wheel. This, accompanied by risks of tumbling for longer distances when one lost control, called for a new invention.

The bicyclette, also known as safety bicycle, is the first chain-drive with advantages over the other inventions. The bicycle invention may be summarized in an innovation model continuum, as shown below. The linear innovation model suggests that the technical change in bicycle occurs in a linear fashion as illustrated in the flow chart below. On the other hand, multi-directional model provides a wider view on the relationship of the subsequent designs (Sismondo, 1993). Illustration 1: Linear Model of Innovation Illustration 2: Multi-directional Model Social analytical approach spells out clearly the diverse problems that need corrections, thus, which are very fundamental for my understanding.

The interpretive flexibility stage analyses the problems affecting the male, elderly and female cyclists. By this, understand the requirements of the elderly, male, and female cyclists. The ordinary bicycle contributed major to the development of bicycles albeit having limitations on the elderly cyclists and female cyclists. It was rendered for young and athletic men who were thought to withstand its tumbling menace when it suddenly hit a rough surface, and also the rider's position over the centre of the